Five Times Rey was a Skywalker (And One Time She Was Not)
by The Hope Lions
Summary: What the name implies. I've taken this trope and applied it to different theories about Rey's background. I think the only one I didn't include is the theory that she is Obi-Wan's granddaughter.


And then I was complete trash and wrote this... I do not own Star Wars, I just love Rey.

* * *

Time One

Luke Skywalker knew it was wrong to have a favorite. There were supposed to be others so that each padawan could have a master's full attention. But that was not the case. With the exception of Luke, the last person with the knowledge of a Jedi master died years ago on Degobah. No, the last person with the knowledge of a Jedi master died years ago above Endor.

And so Luke had to spread his attention evenly to his dozen padawans and half dozen more younglings. He did have the older padawans, Ben for example, help with the younglings, but they were not masters. Skills they could teach, but the temperament, the attitude of a Jedi they did not yet possess. They were still too open to the dark side for Luke to really trust them with the well being of the younglings.

No one could really blame him though for favoring this specific youngling though. Rey was his daughter after all, his and Mara's. And like him Rey was strong with the Force. She was stronger with the Force than any of his other students, even Ben. Her cousin had over a decade on her, and yet Rey had long surpassed him when it came to raw talent. She could yield a lightsaber without risk of injury, and he'd caught her using the Jedi mind trick on her mother. (She'd gotten a right scolding for that one, from both parents.)

Right or wrong there was no doubting it, Rey was Luke's favorite. He worked all of them. He trained all of them. He tried to keep all of them from the dark side. But Rey, Rey was his favorite.

Speaking of the dark side… Luke had felt it surrounding the Academy for a while. It was understandable considering the number of Force-sensitive children bubbling with emotion, but concerning. Especially concerning because it seemed to find a target in Ben.

Luke had seen that target. Leia had recognized the darkness in her son the last time they were together. Ben denied it, but to everyone else it was obvious. Ben Solo was struggling with the dark side's call. He was strong with the Force, and there were two sides to the Force. Luke was doing his best to guide his nephew, keep him from the path of Anakin, but the darkness was still there.

Perhaps Luke shouldn't have left, aware as he was with the darkness his nephew faced, but it was an emergency. Former stormtroopers who had apparently not lost their bloodlust were terrorizing an innocent town. Everyone else who had gone against them had died. It was a job for a Jedi, and there was only one. He left right after curfew, knowing he'd be back by dawn and trusting the Force to protect his students until then.

When he returned, the battle was over. He'd felt the disturbance in the Force and rushed back, but it was too late. Somehow Ben had known his uncle wasn't going to be there and attacked. Bodies lie everywhere, and Luke mourned each young life. Fear gripped him as he ran towards his quarters knowing what he'd find and unprepared never-the-less.

Mara, his beautiful Mara, lay in the hallway, a hole straight through her heart. Only a lightsaber could have created a hole like that, and Luke knew exactly whose lightsaber it had been.

 _Daddy! Daddy can you hear me? Daddy help me!_

Luke looked around frantically, unable to believe it. Rey. Rey was calling to him through their Force Bond! Rey was still alive!

He found her lying underneath the bodies of the other younglings. She was terrified, but unharmed. Ben walked right past her, thinking she was dead. She was alive.

"Daddy, how could… Ben… Ben killed them daddy!"

Luke took his sobbing daughter in his arms and carefully searched through her memories. It killed him to do so, and he wasn't even sure it would work, but she was so young perhaps it would. If it did then she would be okay. If it did she wouldn't be scarred for the rest of her life.

"You will forget Ben Solo," his words reverted through the Force, and Rey looked confused. She was not weak minded, but a part of her wanted to forget. Luke saw her eyes glazing over as she did. "You will forget everything you know about the Jedi… You… You will forget me as anything more than your father. Luke Skywalker is just a legend."

"Luke Skywalker is a legend," she whispered breaking Luke's heart. Shaking her head, Rey looked up. "Daddy, where are we?"

He lifted her easily, shielding her from seeing any of the bodies. "Nowhere honey, we were just leaving."

He brought her to Jakku. Ben, or Kylo Ren as he now wanted to be called, would come looking for Luke, of that the Jedi was certain. Luke had to run and hide or else everyone would be in danger. More so he had to be away from people before he messed them up like he did Ben. He could not make the same mistakes with Rey he'd made with Ben. He had to let her go.

Jakku was very much like Tattooine, hence why Luke chose it. He'd grown up on a dessert planet, as had his father before him. It was only right for Rey to do so too. But Tattooine would be the first place Ben would look, and so Jakku was the best option.

As Luke flew away, he could feel Rey's pain vibrating through the Force. More than anything he wanted to turn around, take his daughter into his arms, protect her. But he couldn't. He couldn't protect her by keeping her with him. The only way for Rey to survive would be if they were separate.

 _Someday I will see you again Rey. Someday you will find me and we can be together again._

* * *

Time Two

Luke loved Lendes Shecpooc, but he loved Rey more. He was there when Rey was born, when her Force presence burst like one of the sun's rays. That was how he'd picked her name.

He was also there when his youngest student, of six decided he was just as capable as Ben Solo, half a decade his senior. Luke was there to give the boy a mechanical hand, much like his own.

And so Luke was not there when Rey turned three or four or five. He contacted his family infrequently, always afraid that someone would find them to hurt him. He still had many enemies. Not everyone was so happy to see the Empire fall, after all.

Rey was out playing when the Holo from Luke came in. The message was short, shorter than even his other ones, but Lendes knew everything she needed to know.

"Ben has turned, and he knows your Force signature."

Lendes did not say goodbye to her daughter. She set forth contacting the proper people, ensuring Rey would be cared for, and then boarded a ship. If Ben Solo, Kylo Ren, was going to come after her, well he wasn't going to find Rey as well.

* * *

Time Three

Joleri Mapbos knew that Luke Skywalker didn't feel for her the way a man should feel after impregnating a woman. He had just been a man who, despite being the most famous person in the galaxy, had never been with a woman. She had just so happened to be the woman cruel enough to change that. There was really nothing there between them, and if Luke found out about their daughter… Well that wouldn't make him fall in love with Joleri, it would only make him responsible for her. And Joleri didn't want the galaxy's last Jedi to feel responsible for her; she'd never be free again.

So Luke Skywalker was gone by the time Joleri knew they had a daughter, and she never saw fit to track him down and share the news. If it was really that important to know Luke's precious Force would tell him all about it.

Joleri found herself not really wanting Rey, but moreover scared by her daughter. Her daughter who had inherited only one thing from her father-sensitivity to the Force. That, of course, was the worst thing she could have inherited, and Joleri wanted nothing to do with it.

Rey was smart, and Rey was strong. If five was old enough for her to be randomly levitating things in her sleep, then five was old enough to be alone. And maybe a harsh life in the dessert was just enough to make the Force stop playing with the girl as well.

* * *

Time Four

Ben Solo didn't need to look up from his simple breakfast to know his cousin, Rey, had entered the room. The sheer force of her Force presence lit up the world around him. The nagging voice in the back of his mind, insisting he'd never be as strong as Darth Vader, disappeared. It always did whenever Rey was around. Ben didn't know whether it was the Light side which surrounded her, or his love for her that drove the darkness away, but something did. Whenever Rey was there… he didn't feel so alone and afraid.

"Ben!" she cried, hugging her cousin from the behind. He broke her grip, and (with a little help from the Force) flipped her over his shoulder and into his lap. Rey giggled the whole way, and it brought a smile to Ben's face. Her eyes were so bright, so full of joy, it ached him to see them. "Daddy doesn't like it when you do that. He says you're gonna drop me."

 _That's because Luke Skywalker doesn't believe in your abilities…_

The voice was back, and Ben's heart sunk. Then Rey stood to plant a kiss on the teen's cheek, and the Darkness disappeared again.

"I'll never drop you, I promise," Ben answered, holding out his finger in the universal symbol for a pinky promise. Smiling, Rey wrapped her tiny finger around his, and Ben wondered if there was a way to keep her from growing up. For her to lose her beautiful innocence would be to lose Rey. Ben could never lose Rey. "Where is your father?"

Rey shrugged, and her too-big Jedi robes dropped off her shoulder. Ben carefully readjusted them, sitting Rey in his lap to do so. "Daddy had to do something. He told me but I don't remember what. Ben. Can I ask you something?"

Ben had never heard her sound so serious, and his grip around her tightened. What was wrong? Why did she sound hurt? What did she need protecting from? "You can ask me anything Rey."

"Why would daddy tell me to make sure I wasn't alone with you while he was away?"

Ben grimaced. Luke had said that? Luke had actually told Rey to be weary around Ben, not to be alone with her cousin. Luke really thought Ben would ever hurt her?

 _He does not trust you. He knows you are weak pathetic. Not even Darth Vader could protect the ones he loved, and you're weaker than him. Only with the power of the..._

The voice dissipated as Ben felt a strange shift in the Force around him. The voice of the Dark side, the one that had been haunting him it was driven away, but by what? All signs pointed towards Rey forcing it away, but she couldn't do that, surely?

"It makes you sad," Rey whispered in his ear, sounding sad herself. "Did it go away? I wished it would. I don't like you being sad."

For a split second, jealousy flared within Ben. How could Rey, five year old Rey, have such great power when he, over a decade older, did not? It wasn't fair!

A part of Ben wanted to cast her away, hurt her. Perhaps that would make her power disappear. But then he remembered what a ridiculous thought that was. This was Rey! I was his Rey! He could never hurt her like that! He was ashamed for even considering wanting to.

"Daddy let me use a lightsaber the other day," Rey burst through his thoughts with a surprising announcement. Luke had made Ben wait until he was seven to hold a lightsaber, despite his nephew's reminders that younglings of the old order started long before then. Had he really let Rey try already? "Let's go to the training room and I'll show you! Daddy sad I was a natural."

Ben didn't really have much choice but to follow her considering how she pulled on the edge of his cloak. "I thought you said your dad didn't want us alone together."

Rey pouted at that, but only for a second. "Daddy says lots of stupid things. I don't listen to him when he does. Come on! I want to show you!"

All of the training lightsabers were locked away, for safety's sake, but Ben knew the code. Carefully he took out the smallest one, and handed it to Rey. She lit it excitedly, almost dropping it as she did. Panic rushed through Ben as he imagined all the injuries she could get from the weapon, and he almost pulled it from her hands. He didn't though, because she managed to get it under control quickly.

Rey swung it about, moving awkwardly as she did so. Ben wondered what on earth Luke had been thinking when letting her try the first time. She was all over the place with her form! "You need to spread your legs more," he corrected. If Luke wasn't going to actually train her he'd have to. "And hold it more like this."

She made his adjustments, and now moved slower, giving Ben time to find her flaws and fix them. Despite the obvious practice and age she needed, though, Rey was good. The Force was strong with her, perhaps even stronger than with Luke, and definitely than with Ben himself. Few things Rey tried did she fail at.

"What do you think you've doing?"

Ben and Rey both jumped as Luke stormed into the training room. Rey hurried to hide the lightsaber, luckily having the sense to shut it off first. Still, it was too late. Luke had seen it, and Force-pulled it from her hands.

"What are you doing letting her play with that!" Master Luke yelled at Ben, his eyes filled with fury. "You know she's too young for that! Why are you training her? What do you intend to do with her?"

"Daddy, stop!" Rey cried, tugging on her father's robes full force. "It's not Ben's fault! I told him you let me! He didn't know! I just wanted to learn!"

Luke's gaze softened, but he did not apologize. With a huff, he finally spoke before storming off. "You should have known better Ben."

Fury and hatred gathered within Ben. How dare he! It wasn't Ben's fault that Luke's daughter lied! How dare Luke blame Ben! Why did Luke hate Ben so much?

"I'm so sorry Ben, I didn't mean to get you in trouble," Rey whispered hugging Ben, but he noticed that, for the first time, her presence didn't make the call of the Dark side go away.

In the end it wasn't surprising that Rey was the reason Ben snapped. One of the older students, a human boy named Fabrol, had Rey cornered. Luke had, apparently, just told Fabrol that perhaps Jedi training was not in the youth's best interest. Unable to do anything to Luke, Fabrol decided to take his anger out on Rey.

When Ben stumbled across them Rey was sobbing hysterically at the obscenities Fabrol yelled. All the anger and insecurities that had been brewing in Ben for months, years really, boiled over. Without thinking Ben had ignited his lightsaber and cut Fabrol clean in half.

Rey screamed, and Ben realized what he'd done. _Luke Skywalker will never forgive you now. He will kill you, knowing you are too powerful for him. You must destroy Skywalker and his new Jedi order. They must all die, you are my apprentice now, Kylo Ren._

When Kylo Ren's vision cleared, Rey was already gone. He didn't stop to think about where she went, knowing that what the voice said was true. Luke would never allow Ben to remain a Jedi. The Dark side was truly his only choice now.

Kylo Ren was not as strong as his grandfather, but, then again, neither were the Jedi he had to kill. In a wave of fury Kylo destroyed them all, young and old alike. He sensed his eyes turn yellow as the power of the Dark side flooded him. This! This was his destiny! This was what he was meant to be doing!

After all the padawans were dead, Kylo Ren stalked off to find Luke. Luke who was his only uncle. Luke who should have believed in him. Luke who had always let Ben Solo down. Kylo Ren would get revenge on Luke for that.

"What have you done!" Luke screamed when Kylo found him. Kylo didn't respond, except with a blow from his lightsaber. Luke parried back, eyes wild in terror. "Stop this madness Ben! It's not too late to fix this."

The burning Jedi Academy would beg to differ. "You lie! You've always lied to me! But now I know the true power you've hidden! Now I know what it is to be alive."

Kylo swung viciously toward Luke, but the Master fought back equally. For a minute, the two fought, but a scream interrupted them.

"Daddy! Stop! You're going to hurt Ben!"

Both blades faltered at Rey's cry. Ben had completely forgotten about his cousin, strange considering she'd begun his rampage. Again, Ben didn't think. He just backed away from Luke, grabbed Rey, and ran for the nearest ship.

In the end, Ben had to use the Force to knock Rey out. She was screaming hysterically for Ben to let her go, to return to her father. He couldn't think with her howling. He couldn't think!

The voice in his head gave him coordinates. He knew that he'd go, meet his new master, his Sith master, and never see Rey again. Kylo Ren had, after all, been ordered to kill all the Jedi. Two lived- Luke, and Rey. Most certainly he'd be punished for letting Luke escape, but he'd be forced to kill Rey if she came with him. He couldn't do that. Whatever happened he still couldn't hurt Rey, never his Rey.

The decision he made was a split second one. He'd probably be punished twice over by his new master, but he couldn't do it. Ben couldn't let Rey die. He flew to the nearest planet, a dessert one named Jakku, and let her go. She'd have a hard life, surely, but she'd be okay. She was strong. She would survive.

As Ben Solo flew away from Jakku, Rey had awakened. He felt her screams through the Force, but he ignored them. He had to go and meet his new master, face the punishment for sparing Rey and Luke's lives. He'd saved her, and now he could never think of her again.

Fifteen years later, when Kylo Ren heard of a girl from Jakku helping that damn droid escape, he knew. Supreme Leader Snoke had assured Kylo that he would regret letting the girl live, now, he did. Yet, a part of him knew he still wouldn't be able to kill his Rey, but play with her, especially if she did not remember, that he could do. Then, once he'd destroyed Snoke, Rey would be exactly as Kylo needed her to be if she was to become his new apprentice. Under his needless mask, Kylo smiled at the thought.

* * *

Time Five

Han Solo and Leia Organa knew there was only one event that could cause such pure joy within them. They were happy many times in their lives, but the day Ben was born they were ecstatic. The day Rey was born, they were as well.

She was everything her far older brother wasn't. Kind, compassionate, strong, unafraid, and loving. While Ben had never thought of anything but his Force powers, Rey cared only to learn how to fly a ship. Luke assured his sister that Rey had a strong Force presence as well, stronger than Ben's really, but they did not push her towards the Academy. There was time for that. Fear of the dark side had Leia and Han sending their son away too early; they weren't going to do that to their daughter.

Their daughter, their exceptional, lovely daughter, who, with minimal help from her father, could fly the Millennium Falcon at age five. There was nothing she couldn't do, and her parents suspected Ben hated her for that. Still, they were oblivious. They were always so wrapped up in the life of their shining daughter that they forgot about their son who lived far, far away with his uncle and the other future Jedi.

"Ben has followed father's path," Luke whispered to his sister, pain engulfing both of them. "Be wary, he may come for you, Han, and Rey."

Han and Leia knew they would have to deal with the loss of their son in different ways. Within minutes the two were bickering like they never had before, overcome with their pain. But there was one thing they agreed on. If Ben was to find either of them, he would not find Rey as well.

Han left the Millennium Falcon with Rey on Jakku. It was a stupid idea and he knew it, but he couldn't help but wonder if one day she might just use it to fly back to him.

* * *

Time One

Desmel and Joeybre Gracre were perfectly normal people. They knew nothing of the Force. They loved their daughter very much. They knew there was no real life on Jakku. They knew they had to find a different planet for a better life.

They also knew that they might very well run out of money before finding a new home, or that they might be killed along the way. With much thought and many tears they flew away and left Rey on Jakku, but not before promising her that they would return, someday.

Hopefully.


End file.
